Sunday, June 26, 2011

Longwood Gardens Lily Ponds

I made a trip to Longwood Gardens yesterday with the purpose of conducting an iPhone private lesson and for getting a couple hours of personal shooting in around the Lily Ponds as soon as Longwood opened at 9:00. Photographing Water Lilies, unlike other flower photography is best in bright sunlight with blue skies! I learned that years ago when I was on a workshop with John and Barbara Gerlach in the UP of Michigan. The workshop participants were cut loose for an afternoon during the workshop for some personal time. I was shooting slides then. One of the workshop participants and myself decided to go back to one of the ponds we had seen. We were excited to see natural lilies growing in the water. It was an overcast day, so we did some shooting. When we got back to the workshop session we told John and Barb we had found them and they said oh those are best on a Sunny day....and so it is! I was dreadfully disappointed with my slides when I got them back. So I have been shooting water lilies on sunny days ever since then! This is a collection of images I made in a couple hours of shooting at Longwood Gardens.

This is an image composite blend or three image I shot of reflections in the Lily Pond.